


After the Sky Broke

by Klauinax



Category: Original Work
Genre: Military Science Fiction, Post-Apocalypse, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:02:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29933838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Klauinax/pseuds/Klauinax
Summary: Look y'all I'm out here about to do my worst.





	1. Chapter 1

Blood spills. Pain flows from steel piercing flesh. Once this was done gently. It was controlled. The acrid scent of medical sanitization. But that was the past. The past was better, for all of it's well dressed cruelty.

Now things were worse for all their naked malice. The screams of the pits made them easy to find, but they had the guns to defend them. It was necessary. The old rites could no longer be followed. The choosing of the Valkyrie. The signing of the Contract. No, now it was chance. The Heads come from the Gathering and are repurposed. Those who can come out of the process with their minds intact, they are pressed onto the fields.

If not, they man the front and walk the Walls. They cannot do much more than that. It is not needed of them. We keep the old ways that we can, the traditions that can be anyways. The Paths. Clad in armor to turn back blades, wielding the arms of the old ways. You'd think many would flock to us.

But they know what we must fight. The threat had come from beyond, and the war fought to keep them from destroying us had only brought both races to the brink. In some stories, this would mean the end. They would reconcile and draw back from the edge of death in order to try and overcome it together, or withdraw and give each other a weary peace.

The truth is much more predictable and much less wholesome. The Threat receded into the seas. From within, they bide and wait our their production times before attacking with the tides. Always in the dark of the night. Always with the shattered moon above them. If humanity itself had not shattered like our night guardian, we may have been able to face them.

But as with any war, there were those on either side. Apologists. Secessionists. Cowards. When the Threat severed our link to the heavens, too many took it as a chance to capitalize on any given petty wrong they had. Our factories crashed down into the dirt, they scrambled to dismantle as much as they could. To steal from us. And then instead of helping as invaders from the heavens reduced cities to ash, they snubbed us.

All the worse for them, though. The Threat didn't care who had perverted their technology. Only that a planet needed to be consumed for it's folly. Scorched earth and ruined buildings. It would be a lie to say anyone came out of this on top. That is the scale of our shared ruin.

For generations we have held back. For generations we have slaughtered what comes from the water. And for generations we have rebuilt. The War is not yet over. We will take what we need to keep humanity safe. Even if they struggle and rage against us every step of the way.


	2. Chapter 2

They're monsters just the same as the things in the sea. She presses a hand against the wound on her arm, and hissed at the burning pain. Beneath her, it shudders in death, body convulsing from the knife buried in it's throat. The wedge of metal gleams in the firelight, and her father claps a hand to her shoulder. "Good job, Lia." He raises his voice, the fire of battle still filling his belly. "Sentries forward! One dead, there will be three more!" That was the rule they had learned. Always groups of four. When one warrior was as strong as ten, it could be afforded.

Lia kneels to draw her knife out, wiping blood and fat off on the edge of it's arm as well as she can. Her eyes trace the weapon it used, black steel that roared fire and death. Her hand strays for it, before the sound makes her jump. A moment of fear, something she hates herself for, before she tries to assess the damage. The thump of a body as her father falls to his knees, hard. Panic eats the fear and her body runs cold as his scream rips from his lungs, and she scrambles forwards to try and press her hands against his chest.

Red flows out, life leaving his body that her hands, worn by battle, can't stem the flow of. His broad chest heaves as he curls instinctively against the wound, breath shakily leaving his body. More of the explosions but she's inured herself to the sound of them for now. Nothing else matters against the horror of reality before her. The other warriors of her tribe surge forwards, trying to defend against the attack they couldn't see. But beyond the bursts of fire and sound, their foes remained hidden. This was what they loved. The confusion of battle.

People fall back, but Lia can't find herself able to drag away from her father's body. He grasps her arm, blood flowing from his mouth as he tries to mumble something. She can see the fear in his eyes. It comes for them all, in time. But she couldn't tell exactly what he was afraid for, himself or her. Biting her lip hard, she raises and he releases her. A single mouthed word. She turns to flee, before stopping short with her eyes wide. Two of them stood there, clad in steel and the colors of night. It would be impossible to see them at distance in the dark, which is what they wanted. Lia lashes out to try and strike one, but he was faster than the last by too much. The back of that black steel into her wounded arm sending her reeling from the sheer force and shock of pain.

She staggers and trips on a root, the very earth that they tended to as a tribe betraying her now in this moment of dire circumstances. The other moves forwards, holding a strange helm in his hands. But not for her. No, for her father, still on the ground and gasping out his last moments. The... thing opens as the warrior kneels and clamps it over her father's head. What had been the gasps of a dying man turn into screams. Pain, horror, absolute terror. She surges to her feet to try and fight them off, but the wedge-headed warrior simply throws her back down violently. Then he stamps on her shoulder, metal shod boots making her cry out in pain once more. Lia's father lashes madly in his pain, before finally falling still and silent. The glint of steel looks up, grunts, and then reaches to their fallen comrade.

In the distance, she can hear more explosions of sound and fire. The cacophony of violence and shouts. The fallen warrior's head is pulled from his body, and she cannot look away. She feels sick. Nothing remains under the helmet. Were they all like that? No face, no jaw. Nothing remains even of eyes. Just ruined meat and some shriveled thing. The wedge headed monster bangs on the helmet a few times to dislodge blood and meat, before turning to her. New strength rises in her body as Lia understands suddenly their intention. She beats on the leg holding her prone. She tries to wriggle free, to lash out and flee, but she's held still as the helm is opened and brought to her, gore still dripping from within.

They're monsters, just the same as the things in the sea. They raid small villages like hers and drag anyone they could back to their citadel of ruin. As the metal clamps down around her head, she feels steel begin to invade her flesh. Even as a proud warrior of her tribe, Lia screams like her father. Darkness meets her. And then, her life begins again.


End file.
